Originally preached at CityLight Glenelg, 25th of May, 2014The Song of Solomon is Wisdom literature in the form of love poems. That could mean nothing to you, so let me explain: first, what is wisdom? Wisdom is knowing God’s Word, and practicing it in your life. As Jesus would always explain, it is founding your very life on the rock of God’s Word. Wisdom is also explicit – it is not general – when wisdom appears it will address specific situations at specific times in specific ways. The Book of Proverbs is the obvious wisdom Book in the Bible – it is easy to see the instructions and practical advice it gives on life. The Book of Job is a wisdom narrative, exploring the question of why there is suffering in the world (Ecclesiastes, also, has this deep kind of wisdom). But the Song of Solomon is also a Book of wisdom though, unlike Proverbs, it is in the form of poetry. You have to kind of feel the wisdom in your heart before you know it in your mind. My hope is that you read the Song of Solomon, and feel the words for yourself – perhaps God will speak to you by way of your own emotions, and how you engage with Him in this blessed Book. But, in the spirit of applying specific wisdom to a specific life situation, I’m going to address one question with three aspects to it: how do you know when it’s the right time for dating, for marriage, for love? I did not make that question up out of thin air; it is a topic very appropriate in the Song of Solomon. In fact, it’s one of the subjects most repeated in the Book – “Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you: do not stir up or awaken love until the appropriate time.” – This charge is expressed in Chapters 2:7, then 3:5, and finally in 8:4. It is a recurring point and, therefore, we must pay attention to it as an important instruction for life. In order to find the answer to our question, we must first understand the Book. This is a book with many different interpretations and applications throughout the history of Israel and the Church. Some have taken it as allegory, saying it is a picture of God’s love for His people. There is some warrant for this because God has often described His people as His bride. However that interpretation is secondary at best. Primarily speaking, the Book portrays a real man and a real woman in the intimacy of love, dating, marriage and sex. Now before we get too excited, on the one side we have the reading of this book as analogy – and that’s not right – but on the other end of the spectrum we find something just as off base: in our day, it has become normal to picture all of the symbols and all of the metaphorical language as being code words for sexual activity. And this simply isn’t true. In fact, it’s a poor reflection of our time that even preachers are finding explicit acts where there aren’t any – revealing how much the world influences the thinking of the Church. When this happens, Scripture and women are degraded instead of being upheld with the value, beauty and love they really deserve. Some of the words in the Song of Solomon do have sexual meaning – you can’t really get around that – this is part of the beauty that God is revealing about sex. But it’s not a beauty God wants the entire world to see. It’s beautiful, we know it’s beautiful, but it’s private beauty. What God is doing here is revealing what marriage looks like on the outside, without taking us inside. He doesn’t need to take us inside the marriage – the outside reveals enough. So, then, what do we see on the outside? We see a garden. If you picture the Song of Solomon as a mountain, you will hit the mountain peak at Chapters 4:9 - 5:1. So from the beginning of the Book, you climb, and climb, and climb and you hit the peak at this passage. And, remember, this Book is a series of feelings that are expressed in love poems – with more of a general story rather than constructed plot. The general story begins with this young girl, who then finds herself in love with this young man, who then weds her. And, not surprisingly, the mountain peak of the Book, Chapters 4:9 – 5:1, is the wedding night. Now, remember, it’s not about sex – though sex is involved – it’s about a garden. This is the Word of God:“You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice! Your lips drip nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue; the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon. A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a spring locked, a fountain sealed. Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna with nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all choice spices-- a garden fountain, a well of living water, and flowing streams from Lebanon. Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its spices flow. She Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits. He I came to my garden, my sister, my bride, I gathered my myrrh with my spice, I ate my honeycomb with my honey, I drank my wine with my milk. Others Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love!” – Song of Solomon 4:9 – 5:1 The word, garden, appears eight times in this Book and it first appears here – on their first night as a married couple. What would such an image be reminding the people of Israel? Usually when this word appears in the Old Testament, it is referring to one thing: the first garden – the Garden of Eden. This is where the first marriage took place and, according to the Song of Solomon, this is where every marriage ought to be – a kind of Paradise. It’s where perfect love is found. If we examine Genesis 1 & 2, what are the elements of perfect love found in the Garden of Eden? 1) Genesis 1:27 – “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Perfect love abounds when both man and woman are recognised as made in the image of God, with equal value. 2) Genesis 1:28 – “And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it…” Perfect love abounds with a healthy sex life, with an eye towards children as a blessing. 3) Genesis 2:15 – “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Perfect love abounds when the man isn’t lazy to work. 4) Genesis 2:23 – “Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’” This fits perfectly with the Song of Solomon, because here Adam is literally singing over Eve. In many ways the Song of Solomon is a continuation of this first song. Perfect love abounds when the man rejoices in the woman – when both lovers rejoice over each other. 5) Genesis 2:24 – “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Perfect love abounds when the man and woman actually leave their original families, cling to each other and become a new one. If you examine these elements in light of our original charge – how do you know when it’s the right time for dating, for marriage, and for love? – you are forced to ask yourself the following questions: 1) Do you uphold and value the opposite sex as being made in the image of God, with equal value? Do your actions agree with this? If you answer yes, it might be the right time. 2) Do you value sex as a gift from God for marriage? Do your actions agree with this? If you answer yes, it might be the right time. 3) For the men, do you have a strong work ethic? Do your actions agree with this? If you answer yes, it might be the right time. If you are lazy, it is not the right time. 4) Will you be able to rejoice over your lover? Do you have the capacity right now to rejoice and praise the opposite sex? If you answer yes, it might be the right time. 5) Will you be able to leave your family to become a new one? If you answer yes, it might be the right time. Some people are very emotionally attached to their own families… of course you are connected with your old family, but when marriage comes you are starting a new one. These are some of the elements of perfect love found in Genesis 1 & 2, but there is another one there and, in fact, it is the crucial element – you see it everywhere in the Song of Solomon:

In chapter 1 of Genesis, God created the heavens and the earth – the universe – in 6 days. He looked around and said, ‘this is good.’ It was also on the 6th day that he created man and woman and then he said, ‘this is very good.’ The creation of mankind completed his work, and he was pleased. Then in chapter 2, the creation story of man and woman, Adam & Eve, is repeated in more detail, which is God’s way of showing the importance of mankind in his creation. But before we get too ahead of ourselves – as most of you would know – history took a turn in chapter 3. Adam & Eve brought sin into the world: they were deceived by Satan and disobeyed God’s word. Perhaps the word ‘sin’ confuses you and you don’t know how to define it; well, here is the original definition. In fact, we can simply state it like this: when God created the universe he created it with purpose and with order – okay, sun, you stay in the middle, and we’ll get you, planets, to revolve around, okay, now on earth, I’d like the trees to maintain safe levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen, way to go, trees, and I’d like the ocean to simply tide itself on and off the land – and so on and so forth. Simply put: God created the universe, but he created the universe with a certain purpose, order and structure for how the universe should go about being the universe. And the universe obeyed his word. The same thing happened with mankind: God created us with purpose and with order, and with structure for how mankind should go about being mankind. But, unlike the universe, Adam & Eve rejected God’s purpose, God’s order, and God’s structure for them. And that was sin. It still is. It is in chapter 3 - after sin is introduced to the world - that we read one of my favourite passages of Scripture. In this text we see God addressing Satan, him being the original tempter of sin. The whole Bible can be read in light of this passage:“I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” – Genesis 3:15 The poetic truth behind that passage is this: as history goes on, there will be two types of seed – one that follows Satan and one that follows Eve – there will be enormous hostility between these seeds, but eventually a Man will be born from the seed of Eve and he will engage in battle with Satan. And what will happen in that battle: the Man will strike the head of Satan with his heel – defeating him once and for all – but, in the process, Satan will strike the Man’s heel, causing him temporary pain. This verse is a very poetic image of what happened when Jesus died on the cross. So this is good news! Even though mankind had sinned against God, He will deal justly with Satan, the one who tempted man in the first place. But it’s not all good news: God still had to deal with mankind. Although a plan was devised for Satan to be dealt with, the problem of sin still abounds. In fact it abounded with force, we see the immediate effects in Genesis 4 when Cain murdered Abel, and in chapter 5 – which some people call ‘the chapter of death.’ And sin and death have been abounding ever since – read a newspaper. Thankfully, we do have good news on this front: again, in Genesis 3, we don’t just see how God responds to Satan but we see how God responds to sin, and this sets the rest of history in motion:“The LORD God made clothing out of skins for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.” – Genesis 3:21 Translation: Adam & Eve were ashamed of their nakedness because of sin, so God showed them the ugliness and consequence of their actions by finding an innocent animal, ripping its body apart – probably in front of them – and using its skin to clothe them. This was a foreshadowing of what was to come. God chose Israel to be his people whereby the Promised Man would be born. But in order for Israel to be God’s people, God had to make a way for them to deal with their sin. By the way, they did not deal with their sin in a wishy-washy manner like shooting up a prayer, asking God to forgive them, and walking away feeling warm and gooey inside. Nothing could be further from the truth. What God began in Eden became the law for Israel: every year an innocent animal – in their case, a lamb – was brought to God as a sacrifice for their sin; the lamb was killed in front of their eyes but – more than that – it was killed in front of their eyes as they held its head. How personal is that? But let me state this in more positive language: real, personal sinners received real, personal forgiveness. That’s the message of this one act: sin is very real and so is forgiveness. You must believe that. For thousands of years this was the law and practice of Israel – they sacrificed lambs to compensate for their sin and they awaited the Promised Man from the seed of Eve – until one day, in a place called Bethany, about 3kms from Jerusalem, this happened:

Originally preached at CityLight Glenelg, 9/2/2014The law of Christ would be well known to most of us, particularly if you’ve been in Church for a long time (you may have sung it). Although Jesus expounds on this topic in other places, there is no greater foundation than when a Jewish Scribe approaches Him in Mark chapter 12, asking Him this question:‘Which command is the most important of all?” Jesus replies, “Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.’ There is no greater foundation for the law of Christ than this answer. Even though Jesus fulfills the Old Testament law, there are still some teachings that are for us today. This is one of them. But that’s Jesus. We’re in Galatians 6: Paul expounds the law of Christ in three ways here, and he gives it a little flavour by adding a third dimension to it all. 1) Love God 2) Take care of each other 3) Judgment is comingLove God“The law of Christ.” – Galatians 6:2 What does it mean to love God? Without the starting point that God loves you I’d say that loving Him is a truly hopeless endeavour. So let’s talk about God’s love for you. In fact, let’s go back to Galatians 2:20 to see how Paul speaks of God’s love:

Originally preached at Citylight Glenelg (24/11/2013)“Then after 14 years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. I went up according to a revelation and presented to them the gospel I preach among the Gentiles – but privately to those recognised as leaders – so that I might not be running, or have run the race, in vain. But not even Titus who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. This issue arose because of false brothers smuggled in, who came in secretly to spy on the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us. But we did not give up and submit to these people for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would be preserved for you.

Now from those recognised as important (what they really were makes no difference to me; God does not show favouritism) – they added nothing to me. On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter was for the circumcised, since the One at work in Peter for an apostleship to the circumcised was also at work in me for the Gentiles. When James, Cephas, and John, recognised as pillars, acknowledged the grace that had been given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to me and Barnabas, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They asked only that we would remember the poor, which I made every effort to do.” – Galatians 2:1-10

If there were two things the apostle Paul was constantly on fire about it was the gospel and missions. His books overflow with rich, gospel, doctrine but at the same time the love of God, through Paul, pours out for the lost. I’ll give one example. Arguably, the book of Romans is his big one, his magnum opus; it is where the gospel is most clearly outlined at great length. In the first 8 chapters, it is straight up, hardcore, gospel doctrine but then in chapter 9 his heart finally bleeds, and what spills out? Take a look. Verse 1:“I speak the truth in Christ – I am not lying; my conscience is testifying to me with the Holy Spirit…” Translation: what I am about to write is no exaggeration, it is 100% truth confirmed by none other than the Holy Spirit. Verse 2:“… that I have intense sorrow and continual anguish in my heart. For I could almost wish to be cursed and cut off from the Messiah for the benefit of my brothers, my own flesh and blood.” There are no words to describe the amazement of this man at this point. I have never, and highly doubt I would ever, flirt with the idea of exchanging my salvation for anybody. With the prospect of an eternal hell, is Paul mad? And yet the Holy Spirit testifies with him that what he’s saying is true. By the way, Paul, of all people, knows that this is impossible, but his heart still yearns with all honesty. There are 2 other people like him in the Bible that come to mind: the first is Moses. In Exodus chapter 32, we find him at wit’s end with the people of Israel. They’ve just committed the ultimate blasphemy against God, creating a false god in the form of a golden calf and worshiping it. It says in verse 30:“The following day Moses said to the people, ‘You have committed a grave sin. Now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I will be able to atone for your sin.’So Moses returned to the LORD and said, ‘Oh, these people have committed a grave sin; they have made a god of gold for themselves. Now if You would only forgive their sin. But if not, please erase me from the book You have written.’” Just like the apostle Paul, what kind of love is this? It is astounding. Well, of course, it’s the love of Jesus Christ, who not only offered up His life for people but was capable of following through with it; He was strong enough to take the wrath of God for His people, atoning for their sin, but unlike these human beings named Moses and Paul, Jesus had the ability to come out victorious, rising from the grave, seated in heaven, where we shall see Him face to face. This is the gospel, the good news, for all who believe. Study Moses, study Paul, and study Jesus Christ. But why do I say all this? Aren’t we in Galatians? Well, this is a prerequisite of sorts. Everything else I say tonight will be in vain if we don’t get what they got: love for God, His saving gospel, and people. Which finally brings us to Galatians 2. There are 6 things you need to know from this text if you want to be a good missionary. I say “good” because the fact is if you are a Christian you are a missionary. The only thing that remains is if you live it well like an Abraham or if you live it horribly like Abraham’s nephew, Lot. We’re going to go through these 6 things but I may as well list them for you now so you get a feel of where we’re heading: 1) Know where the gospel came from. 2) Know what the gospel is. 3) Know what the gospel is not. 4) Know your network. 5) Know your mission. 6) Know the poor.

Picture this: you’re in Church, about to be baptised before family and friends. Just before you go under a whistle blows, “Hold up, time out!” the voice says. A man jumps in the baptismal tank, looks you square in the eyes, “You call that repentance?” He gets baptised for you. Essentially, this is what Jesus did in the third chapter of Matthew.“I baptise you with water for repentance,” said John the Baptist.Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptised by him. John pulled back, “I need to be baptised by You, and yet You come to me?” Jesus replied, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.”Then John allowed Jesus to be baptised. What is repentance? Proverbs says that, “As a man thinketh, so he is.” Basically, you are what you think. Because this is so, salvation must come first at the level of knowing, and work its way outwardly. That is repentance. Repentance is changing your mind, in a corrective sense.

Before I say anything, let me begin by stating categorically that I am as much a failure in these things as anyone you care to name – or choose not to name for that matter. I need to be clear about that because I don’t want anyone reading this to think that I am setting myself up as any kind of example in how to do this right, I only write this because I think it is interesting and challenging to me and probably will be to others too. As I write these things, I will try to use you and I in equal parts to let myself be challenged and to let you as the reader also be challenged. The seven deadly sins do not occur as a list in scripture per se, but certainly each of these faults are demonstrated at a number of points for the evil they produce (though you can find most of them in Galatians 5:19ff (ff = more than one verse following). Scripture does not have seven deadly sins, but rather one “deadly sin” - or rather sin itself, which is deadly - in that it corrupts what is good, destroying it like a cancer from the inside out. Scripture goes so far as to say that even if you do everything else right, any one sin will undo it all. [See James 2:10] This puts each of us into the category of law-keeper or law-breaker, and because no one can claim to have kept all of the law and never stumbled once, aside from Christ himself, we all find ourselves in the law-breaker category. Each of these sins begins in the mind and then leads into action. [James 1:14f]

Originally preached at Church Glenelg, Adelaide, Australia, the 28th of May, 2013

Text

“Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. The man, you see, is the head of the woman, just as the Messiah, too, is head of the Church. He is himself the savior of the body. But, just as the church is subject to the Messiah, in the same way women should be subject in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as the Messiah loved the church, and gave himself for it, so that he could make it holy, cleansing it by washing it with water through the word. He did this in order to present the church to himself in brilliant splendour, without a single spot or blemish or anything of the kind – that it might be holy and without blame. That’s how husbands ought to love their own wives, just as they love their own bodies. Someone who loves his wife loves himself. After all, nobody ever hates his own flesh: he feeds it and takes care of it, just as the Messiah does with the church, because we are parts of his body. ‘That’s why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two become one flesh.’ The hidden meaning in this saying is very deep; but I am reading it as referring to the Messiah and the Church. Anyway, each one of you must love your wife as you love yourself; and the wife must see that she respects her husband.” – Ephesians 5:22-33

Sermon

What does marriage have to do with Ephesians?

If you were to sum up the book of Ephesians in one word, what would it be? I know mine: deep. You’ve been in the book for a while and are reaching the end, and I'm certain you would agree with me that “deep” just about sums it up. In chapter 1 you have heavy Biblical and theological teachings like God’s absolute sovereignty in all things, predestination, foreknowledge, adoption, eternal security, and glorification. In chapter 2 you have justification, total depravity, unconditional election, and reconciliation. And chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6 can be summed in a word: sanctification. Sanctification isn’t hard to understand in Ephesians: it is putting into practice everything Paul has written about in chapters 1 & 2. Simply put: what does your life look like when you've been foreknown, predestined, elected, justified and adopted into the family of God through the person and work of Jesus? And, by the way, what it looks like is not squeaky-clean living, otherwise why would Paul even need to write this stuff to Christians? Sanctification is a messy process for messy people: it is you, the sinner, becoming who you already are, a saint, in Jesus Christ. For the most part it's a slow process, but every now and then you may receive a fast, miraculous, breakthrough in one area of your life while in another it could be painfully slow.

I'm not saying that those who don't share this lifestyle have illegitimate marriages, but I am saying that they don’t have the full blessings of marriage.

Amongst the practical things you've already been through are the Church, spiritual gifts (which, for the Church, are quite practical gifts), right human emotions, right human sexuality, right human lifestyle and today we are on right marriage. Right marriage is a term you will be hearing a lot from me. When I use it I'm not saying that those who don't share this lifestyle have illegitimate marriages, but I am saying that they don’t have the full blessings of marriage - God’s blessing comes by obedience to God’s word.

It is my belief that we just might possibly be in the deepest section of Ephesians. You can be the judge of that - I might be speaking purely subjective here. I can only say that I’ve preached on quite a few different topics before: God’s sovereignty in all things, predestination, miracles and physical healing, election, eternal security, death, and even Hell. But this is my first sermon on the topic of marriage and it almost broke my brain.

No command can be truly followed unless it is first correctly understood.

So when Paul says in verse 32 that the “meaning” of marriage “is very deep” it gets a hearty amen from me. Because it’s not enough for me to preach - or for you to read - that wives should be subject to their husbands or that husbands should love their wives. No command can be followed well unless it is first correctly understood. It is my hope that after we have delved right into the meaning of marriage that not only will you understand it but that your marriage or future marriage will be directly aligned to the teachings of Paul (and God, by the way).

I’ve been reading Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card recently, and I encountered a statement from the protagonist, twelve year old Ender Wiggin who has been pushed into a rigorous military training regime from age six to make him the ultimate commander for a war that could come any time soon, quoting his older brother, Peter, a needlessly cruel and manipulative individual. What he said was this: “Peter had been right, always right; the power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can’t kill then you are always subject to those who can, and nothing and no one will ever save you.” Granted, this statement came off the back of a particularly brutal episode where some other boys attempted to kill him out of jealousy at his inexplicable run of successes, and perhaps things will change as the story progresses, but this also seems to be a major theme of the book as a whole thus far. On reading the above statement something in my spirit rebelled against it. Surely that can’t be the only kind of power that matters. John 10:10-18 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

“Sweety, you know you have to eat all your vegetables before you can go and play.” “Muuuuum!” “And don't hit your brother.” “It's not fair! You hate me! You never let me do anything.” I hear the word “hate” being thrown around a lot lately, particularly in the context of people rebuking Christians for our often socially unpopular standpoint on a number of subjects. Lately the issue of gay marriage, along with other issues like abortion and euthanasia, but these are only the issues that are in the spotlight at the moment, there have been plenty of others and no doubt there will be more.

My dictionary defines “to hate” as: “to feel intense or passionate dislike for something or someone.” In the little dialogue I created above, the child accuses the parent of hating her; of being hateful. But any adult will recognise that the parent in this situation is actually showing love to the child. They are trying to teach them in this case to eat foods that are good for their body and to control their emotions rather than lash out in anger and hurt people nearby. These are good and important lessons for the child, but to the child they just look like a curtailing of her personal freedom. In her state of immaturity, she is not fully aware of the physical and social consequences this kind of behaviour will have on her future, she has no frame of reference for that kind of thinking. Proverbs 3:11f : "My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline, and don’t be upset when he corrects you. For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights." 1 Corinthians 13:9-12: "Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely." If we put God in the role of the parent in the dialogue, we find the scene to be uncomfortably familiar. God comes along and, through Christ and his Church, He proclaims to humanity, “I love you, but you must know that your behaviour is sinful and destructive. You need to change.”

Most Christian leaders admit that post-ministry time is one of spiritual lows. For instance, a Pastor once told me that people should leave him alone on a Sunday night; it’s a dark time that he feels no need to share. I understand this to some degree: Biblically speaking, Satan loves to point out to God how sinful we Christians are (think: the book of Job)… lucky for us, God loves to point out to Satan how forgiven we are (think: Joshua in the book of Zechariah). Yet we, who minister, get caught up in the crossfire: the collateral damage, so to speak. If Satan shows my flaws to God (as if God didn’t know them anyway) he doesn’t get the reaction he wants. Unfortunately, when he shows my flaws to me, I react perfectly for him. I feel downtrodden… I get (to quote the Pastor) “dark.” This is why post-ministry time is best for him to strike: leaders are sinners, and we know it. Personally speaking, whenever I preach it is always from the Biblical standard, not mine. O, what a chance for the Devil! But what a chance for us too: if your life is lacking the standard you preach (which, if you’re a preacher of any worth, must be the Biblical standard) it ought to be resolved in two ways: